London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 134 complaints. Of these, 78 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 37 complaints. We investigated 19 complaints.
More about this data
Complaints dealt with – the total number of complaints and enquiries considered. It is not appropriate to investigate all of them.
Not for us – includes complaints brought to us before the council was given chance to consider it, or the complainant came to the wrong Ombudsman.
Assessed and closed – includes complaints where the law says we’re not allowed to investigate, or it would be a poor use of public funds if we did.
Investigated – we completed an investigation and made a decision on whether we found fault, or no fault.
Complaints upheld – we completed an investigation and found evidence of fault, or the organisation provided a suitable remedy early on.
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council – the council upheld the complaint and we agreed with how it offered to put things right.
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations – not complying with our recommendations is rare. A council with a compliance rate below 100% should scrutinise the complaints where it failed to comply and identify any learning.
Average performance rates – we compare the annual statistics of similar types of councils to work out an average level of performance. We do this for County Councils, District Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs, Unitary Councils, and London Boroughs.
For more information on understanding our statistics see Interpreting our complaints data.
Complaints dealt with
Not for us
Assessed and closed
Investigated
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Complaints upheld
We investigated 19 complaints and upheld 18.
95% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Barking & Dagenham's population, this is 8.1% upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
9.1% upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 1 out of 18 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
6% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 12% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 18 cases.
In 18 cases we were satisfied with the actions taken.100% compliance rate with recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Annual letters
We write to councils each year to give a summary of the complaint statistics we record about them,
and their performance in responding to our investigations.
Reports
The Ombudsman has published the following reports against London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Find out more about reports
We issue reports on certain investigations, particularly where there is a wider public interest to do so. Common reasons for reports are significant injustice, systemic issues, major learning points and non-compliance with our recommendations. Issuing reports is one way we help to ensure councils are accountable to local people and highlighting the learning from complaints helps to improve services for everybody. Reports are published for 10 years.
Council fails to investigate cancer cluster concerns
Barking and Dagenham council is to investigate reports of a possible cancer cluster within the borough, after it previously failed to act on a woman’s concerns.
London council reviews Blue Badge assessment process following Ombudsman complaint
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has agreed to review the way it assesses applications for the disabled ‘Blue Badge’ parking scheme after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found numerous failings in the way the council was running the scheme.
London council and care home amend policies after giving confusing information about fees
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Moreland House care home have agreed to change their charging policies after a resident paid too much for her care, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.
Service improvements
The Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation.
Find out more about service improvements
When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.
The latest 10 cases are listed below – click ‘view all’ to find all service improvements.
Case reference: 24 003 197
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Transport
- The Council will review its procedure in the event it experiences difficulties sourcing support in a care and support plan. We recommend it puts in place a clear process for escalating concerns when the Council receives reports that care and support services are not being provided.
Case reference: 24 002 773
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed that it would liaise with a school the complainant's child attended, to address flaws in how the school was approaching the annual review of children's Education, Health and Care Plans. It needed to ensure arrangements were in place that parents were properly consulted as part of a review, that it asked for reports from any third parties responsible for delivering provision identified in a Plan and that it convened meetings as part of the review.
- The Council agreed to provide an update on measures it said it had begun introducing since the events covered by this complaint to identify where the review of a child's Education, Health and Care Plan had become overdue and to monitor overall trends in its performance in meeting statutory timescales for holding reviews and decision making following reviews. It would also explain to us what measures it had put in place to expedite reviews or decision making, where it knew it had exceeded the statutory targets.
Case reference: 23 017 287
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council will makes its voids team aware that all necessary equipment must be in full working order before a property is allocated.
Case reference: 23 017 249
Category: Education
Sub Category: School transport
- The Council has agreed to review its school transport appeal procedure to ensure all those involved are aware of the differences in the guidance for post-16 transport and the need to record the decision-making process so it is clear how and why the decision was made.
Case reference: 23 015 529
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Parking and other penalties
- The Council will also issue a reminder to Company A that itis required to respond to complaints in accordance with its complaints procedure.
Case reference: 23 011 975
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Parking and other penalties
- The Council will remind officers dealing with dropped kerb appeals of the need to ensure each case is considered on its merits and that exceptional circumstances should not be limited to just the two options given in the guidance.
- The Council will consider amending its guidance on dropped kerbs to make clear when deciding whether exceptional circumstances apply it needs to consider the representations made by the applicant.
Case reference: 23 009 253
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour
- The Council will remind officers that decision letters issued in respect of ASB case reviews must notify individuals of their right to an appeal.
- The Council will remind relevant officers of the importance of keeping proper, suitable records relating to ASB case reviews. The Council should direct officers to review the Ombudsman’s “Guidance on Good Administrative Practice” when doing so.
Case reference: 23 005 243
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to remind its officers of the need to provide tailored benefit advice to applicants in their personalised housing plans.
Case reference: 23 004 665
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will remind staff dealing with homelessness applications of the Council’s statutory duties to assess the suitability of housing in homelessness applications.
Case reference: 23 018 689
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will compile a database of Investigating Officers and Independent Persons it can ask to carry out stage two investigations under the children's statutory complaints procedure.
Last updated: 4 April 2015